Product Description

Severely shaken after a near-fatal encounter with a serial killer TV newscaster Karen White (Dee Wallace E.T.) takes some much-needed time off. Hoping to conquer her inner demons she heads for "the Colony" a secluded retreat where her new neighbors are just a tad too eager to make her feel at home. Also there seems to be a bizarre link between her would-be attacker and this supposedly safe haven. And when after nights of being tormented by savage shrieks and unearthly cries Karen ventures into the forestito find answers she makes a terrifying discovery. Now she must fight not only for her life... but for her very soul!System Requirements:Starring: Belinda Balaski Elisabeth Brooks John Carradine Dennis Dugan Patrick Macnee Kevin McCarthy Slim Pickens Christopher Stone Dee Wallace Directed By: Joe Dante Running Time: 91 Min. Color Copyright 2003 MGM Studios.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 027616888471 Manufacturer No: 1004817

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14074 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2003-08-26
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.com
A graduate of Roger Corman's school of low-budget ingenuity, Joe Dante gained enough momentum with 1978's Piranha to rise to the challenge of The Howling, and he brought along Piranha screenwriter John Sayles to cowrite this instant werewolf classic. Makeup wizard Rob Bottin was recruited to create what was then the wildest onscreen transformation ever seen. With Gary Brandner's novel The Howling as a starting point, Sayles and Dante conceived a werewolf colony on the California coast, posing as a self-help haven led by a seemingly benevolent doctor (Patrick Macnee), and populated by a variety of "patients," from sexy, leather-clad sirens (among them Elisabeth Brooks) to an old coot (John Carradine) who's quite literally long in the tooth. When a TV reporter (Dee Wallace) arrives at the colony to recover from a recent trauma, the resident lycanthropes prepare for a howlin' good time.

Dante handles it all with equal measures of humor, sex, gore, and horror, pulling out all the stops when the ravenous Eddie (Dante favorite Robert Picardo, later known as the Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager) transforms into a towering, bloodthirsty werewolf. (Bottin's mentor Rick Baker would soon raise the makeup ante with An American Werewolf in London.) As usual, in-jokes abound, from characters named after werewolf-movie directors, amusing cameos (Corman, Sayles, Forrest J. Ackerman), and hammy inserts of wolfish cartoons and Allen Ginsberg's "Howl." It's best appreciated now as a quintessential example of early-'80s horror, with low-budget limitations evident throughout, but The Howling remains a giddy genre milestone. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

werewolf
This movie kept me from sleeping when I saw it as a kid. I still love it today. It is a little dated but the werewolfs and the story are still great even today!

Bark at the moon in Werewolf Camp! The movie that changed the lycanthrope myth forever.
After viewing this film, did you ever wonder "What kind of lycanthrope should i become in a full moon night", the werewolf version of myself? I don't know about me, but i'm pretty sure my boyfriend should look like a mutant giant Saint-Bernard drooling all over the place, or maybe my little baby nephew should look like a cute little yorkshire terrier with a little pink lace. Now, how can those "deep" thoughts emerge out of this creepy, menacing, visceral, thrilling over the top horror clasic? Out of the genre-defining movie that changed not only the looks and feels of the werewolf physical nature forever, but the very escence of the mythology in this lycanthropy movie culture?

The answer is simple: Self-awareness. The old stereotype of the werewolf as a lonely creature holding a cursed soul but a good heart, desperatly escaping is own terrible fate and evading the deadly moonlights, is gone. In this movie, werewolves are presented for the first time as an organized clan of self-aware vicious and evil creatures, hidding behind their HUMAN day forms, and not the other way around. See? That is a big achievement in horror morphing-creature films, and a big "breakthrough" vision for the new 80's more extreme and bloody industry.

On the other half, the "wolf man" seems light-years away from this groundbreaking Epic in terms of creature evolution and special effects design: Say goodbye to the classic human disguised in make-up, with hair, nose and teet, and say hello to the new giant mutant wolves walking in two legs, and the consequent animatronic and visionary special effects features. The gruesome design of humanoid wolves instead of hairy humans was the major contribution of this film for the horror aesthetics industry till today. Check the first creepy "realistic" transformation ever filmed. Yes sir!

On top of that, put some nudity and some adult situations and you get the new standard for raw and gory horror films for the newborn decade of the 80's. I guess Joe Dante never imagined that back in 1981, he designed and invented the new werewolf culture for times to come.

Of course i won't talk about the creepy, atmospheric, twist-and-turn and incredibly tense story. I can't tell you that but this i can tell you: This is history in horror filmaking, the bible in werewolf films. Of course there's my beloved "American werewolf in london", a classic "cursed soul" type but incredibly funny, with the zombie-friend and victims haunting the poor guy, the incredible "hound out of hell" monster, the painfully detailed transformation, and the touching love story. This is completely different in every aspect, but somehow people tent to compare them, big mistake.

Enjoy this wonderful DVD edition with the remastered full-lenght theatrical version, with great sound and picture, full-packed with extras and all the information available, including interviews, trailers and documentaries. The most important of course, the special effects and creature design feature. A real piece of work.

Don't you ever miss this movie, "Dog Soldier" fan. This is a part of your culture.

A howling good time!!!
This is a true classic .It scared the heck out of me when I saw it at the drive in.The werewolves are far advanced compared to Lon Chaneys wolfman.They are huge and imposing.This movie took me off guard.The little bits of nostalgia and humor make it lighter too.Seeing little red riding hood and the gypsy in Lon Chaneys "the Wolfman"footage along with Dee Wallace as the newsanchor turning into a cute werewolf then getting shot and switching quickly to a closeup of dogfood in a commercial were pretty cool!And the little piece at the end with the sexy wolfgal ordering a burger rare were a nice touch.